


Exhibition

by auri_mynonys



Series: The Price of Youth: An Abrasax Eternity [3]
Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Exhibitionism, F/M, Light Dom/sub, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Parent/Child Incest, Power Imbalance, Power Play, Pseudo-Incest, Shameless Smut, Sibling Rivalry, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 01:57:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3363479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auri_mynonys/pseuds/auri_mynonys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. After a painful family dinner, Balem arranges for some petty revenge against Titus. Jupiter gets caught in the middle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exhibition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheStraggletag](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStraggletag/gifts).



> Blame thestraggletag for this unabashedly smutty prompt. And thank her also for helping to edit.
> 
> I’VE MADE MISTAKES IN MY LIFE AND THIS MAY BE ONE OF THEM BUT I HOPE YOU THOROUGHLY ENJOY THIS TRASHY SPACE TRASH ANYWAY
> 
> From Strag: Julem: Family dinner. Jupiter trying to get the siblings to be nice to each other. Balem so jealous of how Titus tries to steal Jupiter’s attention from him that after dinner he arranges for his brother to be detained abroad his ship and “accidentally” catch him and Jupiter having sex. Bonus points if at some point Jupiter calls him something like “my good boy” and Balem glances at Titus with a conniving little smirk.
> 
> Y’all can just guess how much I can’t resist a sexy Space Trash Family Feud.
> 
> Set in the same AU-verse as The Price of Youth, but a couple hundred years in the future, when Jupe is infinitely more acclimatized to the Abrasax family values, such as they are.

Balem cannot recall the last time he was so angry. Barely contained fury rolls off of him in waves as he strides back to his chambers, Mr. Night following on his heels. **  
**

“I did say, sire, that a family dinner would not be a good idea,” Chicanery says.

Balem grits his teeth. “Perhaps you might make such suggestions to Jupiter next time,” he says. “It was certainly not my idea.”

“I tried that as well,” Chicanery says. “Miss Jones is rather… difficult to persuade.”

 _To my eternal regret_. Balem strides onwards, fingers clenched tightly into fists. All he wants is his room and sweet oblivion after this disaster of an evening - but Titus wants to see him, and he cannot rightly refuse while Titus is a guest in his house.

_I should slaughter that cur for even thinking of touching Jupiter._

“Perhaps you should consider removing Miss Jones to a more… secluded location,” Chicanery suggests, as if he’s read Balem’s mind. “Somewhere where Lord Titus has no reach. He was awfully flirtatious this evening, and after all, Miss Jones has run away before - ”

“ _I know that!_ ” Balem screams, whirling on Mr. Night. Chicanery stops and takes a step back, waiting for the inevitable slap. Balem stops, breathing heavily. He turns in a flurry of black fabric, storming towards his chamber door. “While Titus is here, increase the guard on Jupiter’s rooms tenfold,” he says. “I want to know who enters and who leaves as soon as they do so.  _Am I understood_?”

Mr. Night nods, running to catch up. “Yes, my lord - at once, my lord.”

Balem exhales sharply. Sweet relief - his room is straight ahead. “Please see that Titus goes nowhere near that room,” he says. “And make sure I am not disturbed until the meeting.”

Mr. Night bows. “As you wish, Lord Balem. As always, your will be done.”

 _It had better be_. Glowering, Balem flicks his door open with a wave of his hand - and stops there at once, straightening.

Jupiter is sitting on his couch, looking decidedly nervous in a lacey black dress that displays most of her legs and torso. Without the cloak that she wore at dinner, the dress might as well be underthings and not a dress at all. Balem takes her in with a startled, hungry gaze. It is not often that Jupiter graces him with her presence like this - and especially not dressed so scantily. She knows his feelings towards her; she does not make herself a temptation without reason.  _What is it that you want? After tonight’s display, it will take more than a pretty dress to convince me to yield._

She sets aside a glass full of wine, flinching as it wobbles upon the table. “You were right,” she says. “Tonight was a disaster. I fucked up pretty bad.” 

Balem raises both eyebrows. Of all the things he’d expected, this was not one of them.

She smiles, the sadness of her 200-odd years reflected in her eyes. “I thought maybe it’d be like being a family again,” she says, staring at the carpet. “Like… I don’t know… like having latkes around a table with Vladdie and mom and Aunt Nino. Not perfect, you know… but family.”

Balem tilts his head. “This family is not like your Earth one.”

“I know that!” Jupiter snaps. She pauses, taking a steadying breath. “I know. I guess I just - ” She stops. Swallows. Seraphi had always done that too when she was nervous. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter,” Jupiter says, rising to her feet. “It’s over now.” She stares at the floor, eyes wide and blank. “I’m not sure why I came here to tell you that.”

Balem knows in an instant, even if she does not.  _You sought connection, something to fill the void. Well, I was made to fill the void. Mother built me to be so._

“Perhaps to offer my lord an apology,” Chicanery suggests, when Balem does not respond aloud, “Since we can lay this catastrophe of an evening directly upon your head.”

Balem raises a hand to stay Chicanery - but Jupiter already looks chagrined, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Yeah,” she says. “I suppose that was it.” She looks up and meets Balem’s eye. “I’m sorry I suggested the dinner,” she says. “I should have known better. Sentiment, you know. It gets in the way.” She laughs bitterly, letting her head drop.

She’s right, of course; there’s no place for sentiment in the world of the Abrasax family. But Balem knows she didn’t really come here to apologize. Indeed, it is sentiment that drove her to him - and for once, he is grateful for it.

Jupiter sighs and shakes her head, looking up with a small, forced smile. “So now to bed, I guess,” she says. She offers Mr. Night a bow. “Mr. Night.”

“Miss Jones,” Mr. Night replies. “Will you require assistance returning to your rooms?”

“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Night,” Balem says. Jupiter and Chicanery both start when he speaks, his pronouncement unexpected. “Jupiter will be staying here tonight.”

Jupiter stills, flushing crimson. “I never said - ”

Balem lifts a brow.  _You did not need to say._

He takes a step into the room, undoing the clasps at the front of his shirt. It falls open bit by bit, revealing perfect, newly regenerated skin. Jupiter’s lips part, her breath catching in her throat. He can almost smell her in that moment - wishes desperately that he could. She doesn’t smell like Seraphi did, but she is intoxicating all the same. An agonizing heat thrums through his veins, his palms itching to lie flat against her skin.  _It has been so long…_

“Stay,” he whispers, his stare unbroken. “And I will endeavor to repair our ruined evening.”

Jupiter has a brief war with herself. He tracks its progress through the slight curve of her lips, the path her eyes take as they look him over (across his chest, over his stomach, and down). Her eyebrows draw into a sharp V, and she bites her lip, hard.

Balem holds his breath and waits.

For an instant, she teeters towards refusing; but then her shoulders slump, and she exhales, nodding slowly. “Alright,” she says. “I’ll stay.”

He smiles, small but certain.  _As I knew you would._

She casts him a meaningful look. “But make it worth my while.”

 _So like mother_ , he thinks - but he knows better now than to say it aloud. He bows his head in acknowledgment and turns to Chicanery. “That will be all, Mr. Night,” he says. “You may show yourself out.”

Chicanery clears his throat, lowering his voice so that Jupiter will not hear. “And Titus, my lord?” he asks. “He is coming shortly, you know.”

For an instant, Balem is irritated all over again. Will that miserable rat he calls a brother never let him be? He should have made certain that Titus left that very night. He runs a hand over his mouth, considering. He cannot rightfully put Titus off when he has claimed to have a business proposition - but Jupiter is rarely willing, and by the stars, he wants her so much…

Chicanery seems to notice Balem’s indecision. “I could, if you wished, simply send him in when he arrives,” he suggests.

Balem frowns - then picks up on Night’s meaning. He briefly imagines Titus striding in, confident and smug; that expression crumbling from his face when he sees Balem and Jupiter together, hears Jupiter crying out Balem’s name…

“Yes,” he says softly. “Yes, I think that would be best. Thank you, Mr. Night.”

Chicanery bows with a small flourish of his hand. “Very good, sire. We will speak again tomorrow.”

Then the rat man is gone, the door closing behind him.

Balem turns, a tiny smirk playing upon his lips, and approaches Jupiter, shrugging off his cloak and shirt on the way to her. He stops just short of her and gets down on his knees, staring up at her like a supplicant before his goddess. “Command me, Jupiter,” he whispers, lifting trembling hands to touch her hips. “Let me please you however you desire…”

Jupiter turns a beautiful shade of pink, her lips parting with a soft, wet sound. “Safe word?” she says, licking her lips.

He blinks slowly, cat-like - in him, it is the equivalent of a nod. “The usual shall suffice, I think.”

Jupiter nods, her chest rising and falling. “‘Aegis’ it is,” she says. “And with all the usual parameters?”

Balem slow-blinks again. “If we can avoid bloodshed tonight, I would be grateful.”

Jupiter’s smile is small and tremulous. “I think that can be arranged.”

Balem actually inclines his head this time, a small signal of his gratitude. “Shall we begin?”

Jupiter grabs hold of his hair and tugs, yanking his head backward so that he is staring up into her eyes. “Stop talking,” she says, “And get to work.”

Balem smirks and opens his mouth, sucking hard on Jupiter’s fingers when she sets them against his tongue.

Tonight, he thinks, will prove a much better night than he had imagined.

 

* * *

 

Titus first knows that something is amiss when he hears Balem shout.

He glances at Mr. Night, both eyebrows raised, but Night seems unconcerned. “Is my brother quite alright, Mr. Night?” Titus asks.

“I imagine he is rather more than alright, my lord,” Mr. Night replies. “But you may see for yourself, if you wish.” He opens the door and bows, allowing Titus to pass him by.

Titus enters the room with caution, secretly hoping for a fight. All Abrasax children have a violent temper, but Balem’s has always been especially volatile - and more than once tonight, he had looked as though he might lose it. Titus had tried his utmost to goad Balem into a fit, but somehow he’d manage to maintain control of himself. Perhaps Titus might now get the show he missed at dinner - and better, might sweep in and save Miss Jones from Balem’s wrath.

He is already plotting how he might use Jupiter’s gratitude to his advantage when he rounds the corner and finds that Balem is indeed with Jupiter - though they are very much  _not_  fighting. Titus freezes, stunned, at the sight of Jupiter lying on the floor on her back, her skin shimmering with a sheen of sweat, her body arched upwards. Balem looms above her, his hair in his face, his collar standing out starkly from the long expanse of his pale back. A bright red handprint stands out against his cheek, as though he’s been slapped recently. He must have displeased Jupiter a few moments ago.

But if he was a disappointment then, he certainly seems not to be one now. “Fuck,” Jupiter moans, gripping Balem’s arms. “I need - I need - ”

Balem pauses, catching Jupiter around the waist and pulling her into a sitting position. Her back is turned to Titus now. She settles into Balem’s lap, moaning again when she mounts him. “Oh god - ” she says, head lolling back. “That’s perfect…” She bites her lip and grins, moving upon him. “Good boy,” she purrs, taking hold of the back of Balem’s head and pulling him forward. “And I didn’t even have tell you.”

Jupiter rocks forward, and Balem makes a low, satisfied growl in the back of his throat, pressing his lips to the junction of her throat and shoulder. “You never need to say,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. “I will always know. I was made to love you.”

Jupiter shudders, head lolling back. “Balem -!”

His brother’s name upon Jupiter’s lips cuts Titus like a knife. He stares, caught somewhere between shock, disgust, and a terrible, painful envy. Unwillingly, he thinks of Seraphi - Seraphi, who had never responded like this to him, who never spoke his name with such desperate longing. Prior to a few moments ago, Titus had been certain he had pleased her - but he had never heard her cry out the way Jupiter is crying now, one hand fisted in Balem’s hair, the other set upon Balem’s chest.

Titus wonders if Seraphi ever screamed like this for Balem, or if Jupiter is just more responsive than his mother ever was. He’s not sure which idea is worse.

Anger consumes Titus when he realizes that this little display was most certainly engineered just for him. Balem knows of their meeting and its time, after all, and could easily have canceled or directed Mr. Night to make Titus wait. Balem wants him to see this - wants Titus’ jealousy and rage. Typical. Balem never could stand that their mother had loved Titus as much as her precious eldest boy.

At least, Titus thinks she did.

For an instant, he considers leaving, if only to ruin Balem’s fun. If he waits outside and pretends he never saw…

But then Balem looks up, and Titus knows he is caught.

He straightens and arches both brows, forcing an amused, disdainful expression.  _Really, brother?_  he thinks, hoping the message comes across in his eyes.  _You think this will make me jealous? I can have anyone I choose._

If Balem reads the thought in Titus’ face, it does not affect him much. Balem merely smiles and presses a kiss to Jupiter’s shoulder, then another upon her neck - up and up until his mouth rests against her ear. “My Jupiter,” he croons, tonguing the hollow of her ear.

She responds with a low moan. “Balem - !”

“Mmm.” He jerks hard beneath her, tearing another scream from her. One hand slides away from Jupiter’s hips, downwards and out of Titus’ view. “May I?”

“Yes,” Jupiter pants, grinding down onto his fingers. “You more than may. You are  _commanded_  to.”

He blinks, long and slow, exhaling sharply. “As you wish.”

Jupiter groans, laying a hand against Balem’s collar. She can’t properly choke him while he wears it, but it looks as if she’s trying her hardest, even while riding him. As if to gratify her, Balem makes a small, choked sound, his eyes rolling back in his head. Jupiter hisses and nips at his jawline, leaving a tiny bruise in her wake. Her hand is still at Balem’s throat, holding him - reminding him that it is she who owns him, and not the other way around. “Oh god,” she says, her voice starting to rise. “Oh fuck - ”

Balem’s eyes snap open. He bares his teeth, snarling, and drives upwards. Jupiter gasps, gripping his shoulder for balance. “Nn - ” she pants. “No wait - if you - no, wait, I’m gonna - ”

“I know,” Balem says, his voice cracking. “Please - please, my Jupiter - ”

Jupiter gasps, clutching hard at Balem’s shoulders. “You?”

“ _Please_ ,” Balem begs.

Jupiter nods frantically. “Yes - god, yes - yes - Balem -!”

Titus watches, spellbound, as Jupiter stiffens, jerks atop Balem, and suddenly cries out, a piercing scream that makes him wince. Her orgasm is prolonged, her whole body shaking under Balem’s assault. Titus cannot tear his eyes from her. Even sweaty and panting, Jupiter is exquisitely beautiful - more so even than Seraphi, he thinks.

A bitter, angry pain burns in his chest as Jupiter comes down, sagging against Balem. Balem must have cum, too; he is trembling beneath Jupiter, his eyes glazed over with pleasure. Balem lowers his head and hides his face between Jupiter’s breasts, struggling for breath. Jupiter strokes his damp hair affectionately, as if she has done this many times before - as if they have made a ritual of it. Seraphi had done the same for him once, holding him in bed, smoothing fingers through his hair.  _My precious boy, my precious little son…_

“Fuck,” Jupiter says, running a hand through her dark hair. “I needed that after tonight.”

Titus flexes his hands at his sides. The words are a painful slap in the face, a reminder that Miss Jones is  _not_  his mother and does not feel for Titus the way Seraphi did. He grits his teeth. Time to end this ridiculous charade. Perhaps if Jupiter realizes the show Balem has forced her to put on, Titus can still win her away….

“Ahem,” he says, clearing his throat.

Jupiter’s eyes snap open, her face turning bright red. “Jesus Chr - ” she starts, throwing one hand over her breasts - as if Titus can even see them at this angle.

Balem merely smiles, reaching for his glittering robe - lying in a heap near to hand - and wrapping it around Jupiter’s shoulders. “Titus,” he says, his voice very soft. “Please do come in. You’ll forgive me if I don’t get up.”

Titus laughs and steps further into the room, spreading his hands. “I find myself confused, brother,” he says. “I thought we had arranged a meeting for this time.”

Balem glances to Jupiter. “Did we?” he says. “I must have lost track of the hour. My sincerest apologies, Titus.”

Jupiter purses her lips, glancing to Balem with a raised eyebrow. He returns the look with a small, unblinking tilt of his head, his expression neutral.

Titus waits, wearing a broad smirk. Any moment now, Jupiter will start shouting - will claim she is being used, and will storm out in a fit of rage. Then Titus can sweep after her, offering apologies and a comforting hand…

Instead, her frown turns into the tiniest of smiles. She smooths her hair out of her face and rises, tousling Balem’s hair as she makes her way to a couch. “Don’t mind me,” she says, folding her legs and settling herself against the cushions. “You’ve already gotten an eyeful - only fair that I get to eavesdrop in return.”

Titus stands there speechless for a moment, the image of his mother and his older brother both staring at him expectantly. He flounders for a moment, then steps towards the door. “Do you know,” he says, “I’ve quite forgotten what it was I meant to ask. I do apologize for wasting your time.”

Balem’s smile is sharp and cold. “What a pity. Should you remember, brother, you are welcome to arrange a new appointment with Mr. Night.”

“Be most assured, I shall,” Titus says. He pauses and looks to Jupiter when he adds, “Next time, perhaps make certain that Mr. Night proves a more diligent guard?”

Balem tilts his head in acknowledgment, blinking slowly, his eyes following Titus as he retreats out the door.

 

* * *

 

“So… you asking me to stay… was that part of a plan, or…?”

Balem glances to Jupiter, arching both brows. “No,” he says. It isn’t entirely a lie, at least. It was never his plan at first.

Jupiter presses her lips into a thin line. “You sure? ‘Cause that’s kind of what it seemed like from where I’m sitting.”

Balem rises and comes to her, lifting her hand to his lips. “Does it matter?” he asks. “If it troubles you, you may be assured it will not happen again.”

“No?” Jupiter bites her lip. “Kind of a pity, actually. It’s kind of satisfying, pissing Titus off.”

Balem gives her the tiniest of smiles. “Should you desire it, I’m sure a repeat performance can be arranged.”

“Hmm.” Jupiter yawns, stretching. “Can’t think about that now. Too sleepy. Bed?”

Balem tightens his grip on her hand and tugs, pulling Jupiter to her feet. She pauses to stretch a final time, shrugging off the cloak and tossing it onto the couch. Without Titus here, she doesn’t need it anymore. Balem watches her as she walks ahead of him, her hair still a tousled mess, her perfect hips swaying as she walks.

 _Never yours, Titu_ s, he thinks serenely, padding after her into the bedroom.  _I may have shared our mother, but Jupiter is mine alone._


End file.
